


Hot 'n Cold

by luckora



Category: Original Work
Genre: F/F, Romance, Roommates, Superheroes
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-01
Updated: 2019-12-16
Packaged: 2020-02-15 16:06:53
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 10
Words: 10,332
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18673006
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/luckora/pseuds/luckora
Summary: After a traumatic event in her life, Tishya has decided she would stop being idle. Being naturally gifted with pyrokinesis, the young video game programmer forged herself the identity of a superhero: she is Firefly, the local vigilante hero who uses her fire powers not to cause destruction but instead to save people.However, after years of being tracked by various villains, among which the terrible Dr. Frost, Tishya has found she was too scared to live all alone.Now she has a roommate, Anastasia. And it's not easy for Tishya to come up with excuses as to why she owns Firefly's supersuit.





	1. Living a Nightmare

**Author's Note:**

> And here I am writing another roommates story, but this time it's not a silly comic on my blog.

It was a bright, sunny day at the park. The sky was the bluest blue there ever was, the grass was painted in the brightest green one had ever seen. The water from the pond was shining, reflecting the rays of the sun. In fact, everything reflected the sunshine. Everything in here had been so bright. His smile was so bright. It was blinding. 

 

She smiled back.

 

He was here, with her. He was holding her hand as the both of them were walking through the park. She had tried to enjoy the scenery, but the fancy colours gave her a headache. It was better to just look into his eyes. There was nothing else in this world, besides her boyfriend Thomas.

 

After a while, they stopped in a local coffee shop, and Thomas had left. Tishya enjoyed the weather on the terrace, the world had become bland again, much to her liking, but it would be for a matter of minutes, a matter of seconds before he came back.

 

He always came back.

 

She was sipping from her cup, lost in thought, when someone, maybe a waitress, approached. They made small talk, she could honestly not remember what was going on, nor what they were talking about, before everything became bright again.

 

Bright. Bright red. The woman had dropped dead on her table, and the blood was dripping. It was all over her, now. Tishya looked up and Thomas was there. He smiled and Tishya could feel her blood had frozen just from seeing him again. It was something that would usually happen. Thomas had always had this kind of power: the power to mess with one's blood to keep them captive. No matter what she did, no matter where she could go, he would not let her leave. He would always be here, and he would hold her hands. Everyone else was gone, the brightness was gone. Everything was dark except for Thomas' smile, which kept growing wider. There was nothing else in this world, there was nowhere to run.

 

But this time, Tishya had found it. The will to break her chains. He had repetedly told her not to use her powers, that they would only cause her and the others harm, but just for once she would not listen. With that horror, with her newfound strength, she was able to release herself from his grasp. She could break free.

 

But it would not last long.

 

He always came back.

 

* * *

 

 

Tishya opened her eyes. She was so stressed that she was frozen into place. It was only after she recognized the ceiling of her newfound home that she was able to breathe again. Yes, she was safe for now. It had been this way for five years, after all... And she did move to a new location recently, after she deemed the previous one to be too obvious. It was better not to stay in the same place for too long. 

 

And in spite of these years, and in spite of her caution, she could not find the strength to live on her own.

 

Today was the day: her roommate would move in. Her name was Anastasia or something, everything had been done online and Tishya was nervous to meet someone new, someont who would live with her. So she took a shower, put on some old clothes, and proceeded to clean the whole place. Cleaning allowed her to take her mind off of things, and she thought it would be better to leave a good first impression.

 

A few hours later, after Tishya had changed again into something more decent, someone knocked at the door. It was a tall, gorgeous blonde girl, with pink lips and a pink frilly shirt. Tishya was about to welcome in who she assumed was Anastasia, when she was violently pulled into a hug.

 

"Tishya!!! It's really you! I knew it! haha, you haven't changed a bit, same old sweater and all!"

 

What

the fuck?

Tishya could barely say anything as she pulled away from the other, and lifted her glasses in confusion, eyeing the other female up and down.

 

She had known an Anastasia, an unsufferable blondie who managed to excell not only in every single subject Tishya took pride in mastering in highschool, but also in music and  _sports_. On top of that, she was the most popular kid back then. Tishya frowned as she remembered working her ass off to remain first, and Anastasia being a close second effortlessly, ready to steal her spot at the first mistake.

And there was no doubt the girl standing tall in front of her was  _that_ Anastasia.

 

"You remember me, right? Don't tell me I messed up and got the wrong person... damn! I chose this flat because I thought I knew you from highschool, I am terribly sorry if that's not actually the case."

 

"You are Anastasia." Tishya stated in disbelief.

 

"Yep, that's me."

 

Perhaps the most absurd thing of all was why the most popular girl in highschool remembred the short nerd with the huge green glasses, but even though there was a lot to take in, Tishya thought it was perhaps slightly comforting to know who she was dealing with.


	2. Warming up

The two of them had celebrated this... high school rivals reunion, Tishya guessed, by having some tea. Tishya had also helped Anastasia move in, she had a lot of small cardboard boxes that seemed to be filled with photos for some reason. When she was asked about it, Anastasia had laughed awkwardly, mentionned that she had a passion for scrapbooking, but that it was a bit cringy and that Tishya was not allowed to see her celebrity crushes. Tishya had shrugged it off, she couldn't care less about stars: she would let her roommate handle her decorating on her own.

 

After that, they had begun making small talk for a while, and Tishya was quite curious.

"So... Anastasia, what are you doing nowadays?"

 

"Oh, job-wise? I'm a beautician!"

 

Tishya blinked, this was not on the list of things she would have expected to hear. She thought her childhood rival would have become a scientist, or maybe a vet. Heck, even a lawyer or anything like that! 

 

"Hey why are you looking at me like that, all incredulous and stuff?" It was as if she had read her thoughts, and she sounded slightly offended but it was hard to tell. "It's a nice business I have here... and perhaps I should give you my card, hmm?" Anastasia took a sip from her cup. Tishya had nothing to say.

 

"What about you, anyway?" The blonde asked.

 

"Oh, well... I'm a video game programmer... I code... stuff."

 

"Oh, that's what you wanted to do right? Hey, Congrats!" Anastasia went for a high five and Tishya obliged.

 

But she had only revealed one of her occupations.

 

* * *

 

 

A bank robbery. The personnel was being held hostage by a few of Dr. Frost's minions, while one of his robots was up to no good in the vaults. That was routine for Firefly, the local vigilante hero. And there was nothing she liked less than dealing with that peculiar villain.

It's not like he ever showed up in person: He always delegated his crimes to some underlings, and sometimes he would send a robot to supervise his plans. He was the kind of person so prefer the safety of his office, wherever it may be. But even if he was but an observer, he always made sure his presence was known.

 

He also had a strange fascination with her and she really hated that.

 

Firefly managed to sneak into the bank, and she easily dealt with Dr. Frost's minions, years of self defense and martial arts training, along with fire powers, gave her a distinct advantage. Plus, there had only been two of them, and even if their weapons were some fancy sci-fi shit, they proved themselves to be extremely weak against temperature changes. As she had unarmed them and rendered their guns unefficient through the art of melting them, she couldn't shake the feeling that every single fight she had against Dr. Frost's subordinates had been too easy. No matter how often, and how easily she succeeded, she always felt like she had stepped into a trap.

 

Once she neutralized them, she headed towards the vault. There, a robot was standing tall. Waiting for her. Why did that bastard Dr. Frost make his robots so tall? The height difference was oppressing, but that big piece of junk would be no match for her.

 

"Greetings, my lovely hero."

 

Yuck.

 

Of course he had made the robot with a monitor to display his hideous masked face.

 

"It seems you have decided to pay me a visit, maybe we should take this to a nice restaurant? Naturally, it would be on me" The voice came from the robot, which was already holding a few bags filled with money.

 

"Ha ha." said Tishya as Firefly. Her voice modifier made her sound as mechanical as the robot, but either way she was not here to laugh. A small fireball had formed in her right hand.

 

"Put the money down, Frost." she demanded.

 

"It's Doctor Frost."

 

"I don't think you have an actual PhD."

 

The self proclaimed doctor on the screen looked dejected for some reason, but Tishya would not leave him any chance to react further. She charged at the robot; she knew that model, it usually took it a while to load its own attacks, but that did not mean she had time to spare. One strike and the robot fell on the floor, the fireball melting its surface enough for Firefly to grab whatever wires were there and destroy it all. For some reason, Dr. Frost's robots and equipment had always been very weak to heat. She had lashed at the robot without thinking, as she usually did but the uneasiness remained. What if some day, as she used her usual techniques, the heat triggered a hidden bomb? She should definitely be more careful next time. She hated that it had to be so easy.

 

She couldn't shake off the feeling that this was all part of something bigger...


	3. Guesstimate

It just had to be.

 

Tishya had just gotten back home through her window, she had removed her jetpack which she put back in its spot, along with her helmet. Now, she was contemplating her corkboard on which she had pinned various pictures and some bit from newspaper articles.

 

Okay, that probably made her seem like a conspiracy theorist, she knew that. But that did not stop her from having several arguments in favor of her assumptions.

 

She was sure that Frost and Thomas were the same person.

 

First of all, they both had ice powers. Or at least she assumed the guy with the helmet that looked like an ice cone did, and there couldn't be that many people to share the same power, right? Well, she guessed she knew at least someone else with ice powers, a former teammate of hers, but that was unrelated and the poor one had a rather short carreer as a hero.

 

Then there was the creepy flirting. Gosh. That definitely gave her Thomas vibes. The dude knew she had fire powers, he must have made the connection somehow, and now he was trolling her. Probably thinking she had not figured him out. Which brought her to her last argument, which was also her best argument;

 

Dr. Frost had only appeared after she became known as a hero.

 

It was a little less than five years ago, back then she wouldn't use her powers much. Her heroic actions consisted in helping elders cross the road, take kittens down from trees, and sometimes when there was a fire in town, she would use her powers to put it out. But one day, something happened. Some robotic engineering student had apparently been working on a robodyguard prototype, and Tishya had to say that the android had been way more advanced than anything Frost had sent her in the last years. A bug in the robot's programmation, however, caused it to go on a rampage and that had been Tishya's first actual battle. She had been badly hurt during the fight, but eventually her fire balls got the machine's circuitry to lose all functionality. The news had been all about that for a week or two.

 

A few months after these events, Frost came. It would match with the fact Thomas didn't live in the area. He must have recognized her in the news based on her powers. And Frost had always been building shitty robots to fight her, seriously. She was known for taking down a dangerous bot. That asshole must have decided he would take her down with a shitty robot, just to humiliate her. 

 

That's why she was so convinced Dr. Frost and Thomas were the same guy. It could seem far fetched, but not to her. Thomas was a criminal and a murderer who would use his ice powers to freeze the blood of his victims. That's pretty much what a supervillain is.

 

Tishya was so lost in thought that she had not noticed someone knock at her door.

 

"Hey can I borrow your sha- what are you wearing?"

 

She had also forgotten to actually change out of her suit. Oh god. Okay. That was dangerously stupid, but that's okay, Anastasia doesn't seem like the kind to be into superhero stuff...

 

"Is that Firefly's costume?" the blonde blinked.

 

Shit. Okay, Tishya, just... just find an excuse, anything.

 

"Uuuh this is... yes. This is my... Firefly cosplay for the supercon next month."

 

Okay good. That works.

 

"Oh my god that's awesome? I've never been to supercon we should totally go together, where do I buy a ticket? Also where did you buy your cosplay it's so good! Firefly's my fave!!!"

 

"Oh, sure and uh, I made it myself." Damn it, she had never been to supercon either, she had always found it dumb to begin with, and now she was going to have to go because refusing something like that would just be rude. Fuck her whole life.

 

"Oh damn. Well, I guess I'll just have to find the right thing to wear! I'm so excited!"

 

Tishya was not excited at all.


	4. Supercon

Tishya regretted agreeing to this.

 

She usually avoided superhero themed conventions for several reasons. First of all, the heroes who were invited were only the most famous ones: those who worked in organisation and therefore had an actual address to get fanmail and invitations, and Firefly was not like that. These guys had so much merch that it weirded Tishya out, of course being a hero and never being rewarded is quite sad, but how much could they all capitalise on their image? It would also confuse the hell out of Tishya if she were to see anyone cosplaying as her superhero form.

 

Which, she was. 

 

She had switched a few things to her costume, though. She couldn't just go there and be Firefly, seeing as Anastasia was going with her. She couldn't risk Anastasia, or anyone, discovering her secret identity. So she just picked the least recognizable parts of her supersuit, and put a T-shirt with a huge F on it. That would probably do, now she just had to look for her roommate. She knocked at her door.

 

"Whoah!! Wait, don't open!" she screamed almost immediately.

 

"Huh... okay."

 

"Sorry, I know it's dumb but I'm not comfortable with sharing my... somewhat cringy interests... and they're all over the walls." Anastasia got out and closed the door quickly behind her, leaving barely enough time for Tishya to notice her walls were indeed covered in photos and posters, before her attention went back to the blonde.

 

What the hell was she wearing? She looked like a freaking magical girl, with the pink frilly dress! Tishya was sure she saw an anime like that once, but she could not recall which one...

 

"What are you supposed to be?" She asked.

 

"Oh! I'm Goldilocks! What do you think of my new hairstyle?"

 

"You look nice but... Goldilocks isn't really a superhero?"

 

"Then I'm the super-Goldilocks who can wrestle bears!" Anastasia flexed in her pink frilly outfit. 

 

"Yeah okay, fair enough. I don't think you have to be dressed as a superhero or as anything anyway, so it works."

 

"What about you, didn't your outfit look better last time I saw it?"

 

Oh shit, she actually remembers that? Thought Tishya.

 

"Huh, it's hot outside so I thought I'd be more comfortable in a T-shirt..."

 

Anastasia laughed. It sounded really obnoxious, and Tishya tried hard not to show how annoying she found it. Eventually, the both of them left their appartment and headed towards the convention area.

 

Tishya was impressed, she was not used to conventions at all and the area was so big. She recognized a few famous heroes from afar, but neither Anastasia nor Tishya cared enough to get in the line to get an autograph. The line was way too long, and waiting would be a waste of time for them. Tishya thought it weird Anastasia had been so excited to come, yet didn't give a damn about anyone there. She seemed to be motivated only by looking for merch, however she never bought anything from any stand.

 

Until they reached one that Tishya assumed to be some sort of fanzine stand.

 

"Oh my god!" Anastasia's eyes were sparkling "Is that what I think it is?"

 

Tishya got closer, in order to take a look. Yep, these were definitely fanzines, and it seemed they were about... wait...

 

"What the fuck is that?!"

 

"Oh! That's a Dr. Frost/Firefly fanzine! They're my all time OTP! I'm so glad I came!" Anastasia was almost hugging the book.

 

"Why does this exist?!" Tishya, on top of being very pale, looked extremely disgusted.

 

"Oh, you know... love-hate relationships... the appeal of rivalry, that kind of stuff?"

 

"No! I get that, I mean: why would anyone ship real people? That's super weird! Imagine if... Imagine if Firefly... or Dr. Frost or anyone found out people were writing love stories about them? Gosh..."

 

Anastasia looked at her fanzine and thought, clearly concentrating on the question. She eventually sighed and nodded. 

 

"You're right, that's pretty creepy... and although I doubt Dr. Frost really gives a fuck, I've seen some stuff that would probably still make him uncomfortable... Guess I won't buy the fanzine."

 

Tishya almost felt bad, as she saw Anastasia's serious expression when she put the book back down.

 

"I'll read fanfics instead!" The blonde added and Tishya rolled her eyes.

 

"No wait, I can recommend some! Some that are not bad I mean, like... like without the shippy stuff? I'll show you when we get back home! There's this user named TheRealDoctorFrost that writes-"

 

"Wait, are they ACTUALLY Frost? Like, does that guy write fanfiction about...uh... himself? Really?"

 

Anastasia remained silent before answering "It would be hilarious if that were the case, but I think it's just some Dr. Frost fangirl... I'm sure he has a lot."

 

"I'm sure he does not?" Tishya really needed to find a way to switch subjects but she had nothing to talk about. She looked around, in order to find something interesting, to escape this mess of a conversation...

 

That's when she heard a scream.

 

A few feet away from were the both of them were standing, a bunch of people seemed to have gotten into a fight. Although that was weird in itself, perhaps the most disturbing thing about the scene was the man in a purple suit, with a matching top hat and a creepy mask standing on top of a stand, watching the fight from above. He was moving his hands in a weird manner, and the man who had started the fight moved along. He was also the one screaming. Tishya was starting to think this was not just a fight, and attempted to get closer, when Anastasia grabbed her arm. Her grip was firm.

 

"Don't. That's the Puppet Master. We need to leave." 

 

Tishya had never seen Anastasia so serious, and her icy blue eyes seemed to have frozen her into place.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I should have made my username TheRealDoctorFrost, sad that I didn't think about this sooner.


	5. Anti-climatic

"Who's that?" Tishya had never heard about this villain before.

 

"He's some evil asshole from the other side of the country who recently came here, and works for Dr. Frost now." Anastasia whispered. "He uses his powers to control whoever gets too close to him, that's why we need to leave immediately." she began pulling Tishya along with her towards the exit.

 

Unfortunately, this did not go unnoticed by the purple villain.

 

The man jumped from his spot, he was extremely fast. He landed right in front Anastasia, blocking the way. Tishya was standing behind her, and could not see the villain at all due to Anastasia's height. Even though she could not see the other girl's expression, she could tell that she was extremely tense. Then, she heard the Puppet Master talk.

 

"What do we have here? That's a lovely dress you have, may I know where you are going?" Although he was wearing a mask, the smirk was still audible in his voice. Tishya shuddered.

 

"Why, I'm getting the fuck out of here. Now get out of my way before I beat your ass like Ka-pow!" Anastasia's tone was low, but Tishya could tell from the man's lack of response that he was not at all intimidated. Even worse, he burst out laughing. That was the worst evil laugh Tishya had ever heard. Not even Dr. Frost's laugh could compete with that. And she still couldn't see him.

 

She wanted to push Anastasia out of the way and confront the guy, but how could she do that? Would it give her away as Firefly? Her T-shirt was exposing the dark skin of her arms, and if she could she would like to remain as anonymous as possible. Besides, Anastasia was not dumb, she would be able to tell right away... did she even have anything to hide her face? Shit! What could she do?

 

Then she felt it.

 

It was getting increasingly cold.

 

It was awful, she hated it. The low temperature was biting into her like a storm of unpleasant memories. There was nothing she could do, she would be frozen into place yet again. Frozen in thoughts, into a permanent stasis. She was starting to panick, she could barely see anything in front of her anymore. Could it be what this was? Was the purple man able to paralyse people, to control them by manipulating the water in their body? It felt so awful, she wanted to scream, she wanted to move, but she couldn't. She was barely able to breathe. It was the same as it had been before except...

 

Except she could breathe. She could scream, and she could move.

 

She noticed as she saw she had clenched her fists without thinking, something she would not have been able to do had she been paralysed. How long had she remained idle? Way too long. She had to act. She looked again at the villain and Anastasia. She had been idle long enough for Anastasia to somehow get the villain in a headlock, or maybe he was the one holding her. She had no idea what was going on but she was the hero, Anastasia a civilian and the Puppet guy was bad.

 

Tishya ran towards them, pushed Anastasia aside and full on tackled the man with the creepy smiling mask. If his powers were what she thought they were, then she should be immune. She felt the feeling of cold disappear for a moment as the Puppet master hit the ground and she took it as confirmation. Someone else did have ice powers. Now, she just needed to calm down, and not release her flames in the heat of the moment. She could probably handle that guy while remaining anonymous.

He had been struggling, and repeatedly tried to push her off of him. Tishya had screamed when he had touched her, she could fight back the ice taking over her body, but it didn't burn her any less. He had tried to use the opportunity to run away from her but she wouldn't let that happen. She pulled on his jacket, making sure not to accidentally set it on fire, and was able to prevent him from leaving.

 

But had he actually managed to get away from her, he wouldn't have been able to go very far. 

 

Various heroes had come, alerted by the convention staff. _**That**_   was exactly why no one usually attacked superhero conventions, they were full of superheroes. Tishya couldn't exactly tell who was there as she had apparently lost her glasses at one point, but as she began understanding that she had been able to stall for enough time for the villain to be surrounded, Anastasia helped her back up and gave her back her glasses. She gave her a warm smile before whispering again.

 

"What you did was really awesome, but I think it's time to go back home... unless you want the attention of journalists, I guess."

 

Oh god, anything but having to explain how she was able to resist this guy's powers.

 

"Yeah... let's just leave."

 

* * *

 

 

The two girls had gotten back home, the fight had not been the roughest Tishya had fought, but she still had a few bruises and scratches, along with the awful sensation in her side. She had been more focused on preventing the Puppet Master from running away, than on him hitting her. Anastasia was in a better state, and turned on the TV as soon as Tishya had closed the door. Of course, videos of the events were being broadcast on the news. Tishya could gather that the bad guy had run away, in spite of the heroes' best effort to catch him. Damn it, she probably should have stayed to fight... A few were hurt, but at least no one had died.

 

"Can you turn that off? I'm still a bit shaken." Tishya said.

 

"Oh huh sure, you don't want to hear about your exploit?" Anastasia turned off the TV, then turned her attention to her roommate.

 

Tishya sighed "No, I don't."

 

"Damn, I thought I could at least thank you for intervening and tell you how amazing you are." the blonde winked.

 

"E-erm... Thanks, but what about you? Weren't you trying to hold the puppet guy back as well at one point?"

 

"Oh uh... yeah... you looked kind of... away? I thought he was using his powers on you, and I was very worried but someone had to do the staying calm and stall for time thing ... I was not being too efficient though." she chuckled.

 

"That's very sweet and amazing of you." Tishya sat next to the other. "Thanks a lot, and also thanks for keeping my glasses."

 

Anastasia laughed again, but her laugh was not as obnoxious as usual.

 

"You're welcome!"

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I had to heavily edit this chapter, as I thought that the Puppet Master didn't have as much of an impact as he should in my drafts. Tishya was not really supposed to fight him at all, then feel guilty but I thought it would be more interesting to have the two fight, even though the things that it changes about the original story are huge.


	6. The Coffee Master

The room was large, and manily devoid of furniture aside from a round table coloured in deep blue standing right in the middle, with similarily coloured chairs all around it. The walls were of a lighter colour, something closer to teal, and they were covered in large windows, although the blinds had been closed. The door was opened by someone, but no one really paid attention. It was just some guy bringing coffee.

 

Around the table were sitting a bunch of individuals who did not look like they belonged in such a professional setting; they were all harboring colourful outfits, may it be a green and white spandex costume covered in vines, a yellow uniform, a purple suit or even a lab coat and a huge, sharp looking helmet that appeared to be made of ice. The coffee guy definitely felt like he was out of place in his ordinary work clothes, but he did not feel that bad about not fitting in.

 

The atmosphere in the room was definitely oppressing. It was the man in a lab coat, Dr. Frost himself, who decided to finally break the silence. He stood up just when the coffee guy was about to fill his cup, startling him in the pocess.

 

"Puppet Master. I know that, you being a new recruit, you might feel inclined to... attempt some things to impress your peers. However, you should focus on not being a nuisance."

 

Dr. Frost sat back down after having spoken. Everyone in the room looked at the man with the smiling mask. They all knew Dr. Frost would never let anyone get in his way, therefore the word 'nuisance' was not to be taken lightly from him.

 

"I do not see how my little attack of a random festival hinders your plan in any way." Said the Puppet Master. "It's not like I know your plans to begin with. Maybe your subordinates would not get in your way if you kept them up to date on your plans? Seriously, no one here knows what we are doing."

 

A man in yellow with an impressive beard and moustache stood up and slammed the table violently.

 

"Do not talk to your boss with that tone!" He yelled. "Seriously, what is up with youths these days? Do you think that after what, two months here, you would be kept up to date on our most secret strategies? The problem here is you have no respect for authority! Obey your damn boss and don't act on your own!"

 

He sat back down, and was immediately poured a cup of coffee, truly he needed it, but he didn't thank the guy who poured it.

 

"Thank you, Colonel Powerhouse." Dr. Frost said. "However, while it is true our new recruit has disregarded my orders, the main issue I have is what I would call... a matter of policy. You attacked a place in which many civilians and even some notorious heroes were gathered." His tone was stern as he spoke.

 

"Well, isn't that what villains do? This is some villain organisation, right? Isn't attacking people part of the job?" The purple man attempted to defend himself, but Frost remained unconvinced.

 

"It could have been. This would have been allowed if my intentions weren't to keep a low profile. If the public feels too threatened, the media will be all about our activities. Many heroes will want to come defeat us, and fighting them off will be a massive waste of my time. Besides, you attacked a place stacked with heroes from all over the country. The chances of you getting caught were massive, and I do not tolerate any of my subordinates being caught. I do not want the authorities to have any information about my master plan, do you get it? Another mistake and I'm getting rid of you."

 

"I see. You're planning something bigger in the shadows. I still can't know what it is. Life's great."

 

Dr. Frost's mechanical, artificially modified voice let out a long, unnatural and exagerated sigh.

 

"If you really want to know what we're trying to do, what I'll reveal to you is that we're focusing on capturing Firefly."

 

"Ah, yes. The fire girl." The Puppet Master said.

 

"We're always trying to catch Firefly" mumbled a green haired woman covered in vines and thorns.

 

"I heard that, Ms Chrysanthe." said Dr. Frost. "Anyway, Puppet Master. You're here. Now, tell me what you could do to help us catch Firefly?"

 

"Well, there are multiple ways I can get her intention. Like mass murder. I could also bluff and pretend to threaten her family if you're so against violence, then she would come, I use my powers to control her and voilà." he snapped his fingers. "Girl's caught."

 

"She has fire powers you absolute buffoon!" screamed Daisy. "Your powers are water based, and you use ice to control people right? But she would melt it right away and free herself instantly! Have you never seen her melt our robots?" she huffed.

 

"Oh trust me, I would make sure she wouldn't leave."

 

"No matter how you use your powers it wouldn't work." Dr. Frost shook his head. "You clearly are not that good, just look at the facts; you were struggling against some harmless civilians back at the convention a few days ago, how could you handle someone of Firefly's caliber?"

 

"Harmless civilians?" The Puppet Master almost choked when he heard that. "I highly doubt they qualified as harmless civilians! One of them clearly was-"

 

"Your name is Matt, right?" Dr. Frost was apparently not listening to the man in purple anymore, instead turning his attention to the man who had been keeping up with the empty cups though the whole meeting. Matt, the coffe guy, jumped slightly when he heard his name. 

 

Matt nodded slowly.

 

"What would you do to catch Firefly, Matt?"

 

Matt looked at the villains in the room, but it was obvious no one would help him. He set down the coffee on the table and thought.

 

"Well," Matt began. "I do know for a fact that we have some sort of access to security cameras in various areas all around town. Firefly is a local hero, therefore the probability she lives in this city is extremely high. What we need to do is use the surveillance cameras to track her movements. Once we have her movements, what we need to focus in not exactly where she goes and what she does. In fact, what we need to track is where she is first and last seen. That would clue us on where she was before she decided to intervene, and, in case of a particularly hard fight, her last position might lead us to where she lives. After all, it's not easy to cross the whole town while badly hurt from a fight. It would be natural for her to change back into her civilian outfit close to her living area. Then we investigate, and zero in on her. That's it. I honestly do not know why none of you, especially you, Doctor since you're supposed to be the smartest one in this room, have never thought about that. It just seems like the obvious thing to do."

 

After such an amount of words coming from the usually silent, and almost invisible coffee guy, everyone was too shocked to dare say a word. Matt noticed this and it made him very nervous.

 

"I mean, not that I question your ways, or your intelligence, Sir... I just... please don't fire me? Especially not if you actually plan on doing what I said! That would suck."

 

The fact that Matt was more afraid of losing his job than losing his life left everyone in the room even more dumbfounded than earlier. Just what was up with that random guy? Not even Daisy Chrysanthe, who was usually known for her sharp tongue, had never acted so casual around her boss. Everyone turned their attention to said boss, what was he thinking about this? How would he react? The man in a lab coat got up again.

 

"Well, Matt. I'll let you in charge of uncovering Firefly's identity. You have carte blanche, do whatever you think will work, and inform me if you need minions."

 

"Is that real? Like... Can I have Colonel Powerhouse as my minion?" Matt asked.

 

"WHAT?!" the colonel screamed. There was just no way he was going to work for the guy who poured him coffee just a few dozen minutes ago.

 

"Erm... I guess?" Frost answered. Colonel Powerhouse had never felt so insulted in his whole life.

 

"Oh wow, so you weren't kidding. I really can do whatever I want..." Matt turned towards the colonel, way too eager to abuse his newfound power. "Don't worry, colonel. I don't like you enough for you to work for me, I was just joking."

 

the colonel just knew he was going to kill Matt as soon as his boss walkes out. His moustache was already sparkling from static electricity.

 

"Thank you very much for my promotion, Doctor. I will not disappoint you. I will get to work immediately." Matt left, completely ignoring everyone's disbelief.

 

It almost seemed the ice villain was pleased with his new right hand man. Then, he turned his attention to the Puppet Master one last time.

 

"You'd better not make me fire you."

 

And with that, the self proclaimed doctor left the room as well.


	7. A Matter Of Power

Since his recent promotion, Matt had been given his own office. He had a team of his own, tracking Firefly on their screens while he ran the collected data through an algorithm he had made himself.

 

Dr. Frost knew what he had been doing by appointing the young man to the task, he always made sure to check all of his employees' background before allowing them to work for him. Matt was an engineering student from a rather prestigious school, but he seemed to be completely broke, and thus somehow got himself hired to be able to pay for his studies. There were probably other odd jobs he could have picked from, but it seemed serving under some megalomanic guy with ice for head was what had appealed to him the most. Either way, Dr. Frost had not appointed just anyone to the task.

 

However, the villain was never one to explain his train of thought. Many of his subordinates had no idea what was going on behind the mask. This was at the core of most conflicts between who knew the most and who knew the least. Especially when the latter were kept in the dark about what to do.

 

It was as Matt was going back to his office after a well deserved coffee break (HIS coffee break, not him bringing coffee to someone else, he was done with that, thank you.), that someone decided to stand in his way.

 

"Ah, if this isn't Colonel Powerhouse himself. What's the matter."

 

"Don't act so cocky just because the boss promoted you to the top of our organisation." The colonel spat. "I won't allow you to ridiculise me again, do you understand."

 

"Oh you mean about yesterday? That I said I wanted you to work for me? Nah, don't worry... as I said before, I don't like you." Matt smirked.

 

"You... do you not know who I am?" the light began flickering in the corridor. Matt was thankful that he was not in his office right now, he couldn't risk his hard work to be obliterated by a power outage.

 

"I can create a voltage of roughly 500V, enough to kill a human in way less than a second!" sparks of electricity were forming around the colonel's hands, and Matt couldn't help but stare.

 

"Well that sounds intimidating." was all he could say.

 

Powerhouse charged him, his fist in the air. He aimed for Matt's face at full power.

 

Sparks of electricity flew everywhere. It had taken just an instant.

 

When the man in the yellow suit moved his fist away from the young man, he was smirking. He had not released his maximum voltage on the boy, thus he would probably not die, but the sequels should be enough not to have Matt underestimate him again.

 

Had Matt actually been hit.

 

When the colonel noticed that the former coffee guy was still staring at him, and slowly took a step back, exhaling as if nothing had happened, his confidence turned into a whole other emotion. Matt simply smiled at him.

 

Confusion, and perhaps even some panick.

 

How had Matt dodged the attack? Had he moved at near light-speed velocity? The colonel swore Matt had not moved an inch. But now that he thought about it, he did not remember his fist actually making contact with anything at all... nevermind that! His punch landed close enough for Matt to be electrified anyway! What was going on?

 

"How did you resist my attack?!" screamed Colonel Powerhouse, and Matt's smile grew more sinister.

 

"I'm a sagittarius." he explained.

 

"You're... wait, that does not explain anything! Hey! Where do you think you're going! I'm not finished with you!"

 

Matt had left, walking at a terrifyingly normal speed. The Colonel had run after him, but lost track of Matt as soon as the guy took a turn left. That should not have been possible as the left corridor was a dead end. Powerhouse had no idea what was going on, but now he knew Matt was more than just the coffee guy.

 

Matt was dangerous.

 

Perhaps he was part of some rival secret organisation named Sagittarius? But then why would he have announced it to him? Was he mocking him again? This guy was driving the older man crazy.

 

* * *

 

 

Matt was almost out of breath as he entered his office. He looked at the ceiling pensively. The only reason he could allow himself to talk back to other villains was that he too had powers. They were nothing exceptionnal in matter of combat, but they were handy when he had to run away quickly. Now, he just had to make sure his door was locked, he had left it this way before leaving. But when he reached his door, it was not locked. Someone was probably there, and Matt really hoped it was just the janitor.

 

Unfortunately it was not the janitor. It was the Puppet Master, who was sitting at his desk and looking at him. Matt rolled his eyes; this was way worse than having to deal with Powerhouse; at least he could handle the guy... but the Puppet Master was way less predictable.

 

"What is it today? Seems I'm growing pretty popular around here, I'm flattered really, but wouldn't it be simpler if you could all just let me work in peace?" He was starting to get pretty irritated with the situation.

 

"Actually, I only came here to provide my services... I see you have some pretty interesting profiles on your computer, and I could... perhaps bring these people here for further interrogation?" The purple man asked.

 

"I'm sorry, but I doubt your ability to bring anyone here _alive_. Which we need if we want to conduct an interrogation." 

 

The Puppet Master burst into laughter.

 

"You'd be right not to trust me, but let me warn you; you either allow me to lend you my help, or I will catch Firefly myself. That's all I wanted to say." With that, the Puppet Master took his leave.

 

That clearly didn't sound good for Matt, who rushed to his computer. Whose files had the bastard been consulting? There were many promising candidates as to who Firefly could be in the general area they had managed to locate most of the hero's first and last appearances. Fortunately for him, the latest profile that had been consulted was still highlighted among the others. Matt remembered this one, it was the profile of a girl of indian decent who worked as a video game programmer. From his calculations her heigh matched Firefly's, and there were a few details that could make her a decent candidate. The only other profile he could think of right now that could have been more likely to have ties with the fiery vigilante was the one of a former robotics student, who seemed to be involved in various strange businesses. Nothing too shady, but a number of various restaurants and shops... But that was not what mattered. There was a high probability that the Puppet Master would go against the girl, and if he got to her, or to her roommate before Matt did, some potentially crucial clues could be lost.

 

Matt would have to think fast, and there was only one person that wouldn't ruin everything.

 

Matt called Daisy Chrysanthe


	8. It's Hot Outside

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hello! I know it has been a while, but I have been busy dealing some personnal issues. I am glad to announce however that I passed most of my exams, although it does mean I might not update this story a lot until the end of july (Passing my written exams needs I have to take the oral exams >_<). Anyway, I hope you will enjoy this.

After work, Tishya went home. Anastasia was not back yet, which gave the appartment a lonely feel. It felt a lot emptier than usual. Tishya shrugged it off: it was not that uncommon for Anastasia to go grocery shopping, or just hanging out with friends after work. Besides, the fact that the tv obsessed girl was not there meant Tishya had more time to play video games. She headed towards the TV, and knelt down to find which game she wanted to play. It was pretty hard to pick one actually... She was not sure she would be able to.

 

And indeed, she was not.

 

There was a loud crash. The whole building shook. What was it? An Earthquake? Tishya bent down to gather her cds but there was a second quake. Stronger than the last. And noise. On the left. Glass flew everywhere, there were no more windows. Tishya barely had the time to catch a glimpse of a shadow outside, fleeing towards the sky.

 

Now, THAT was unusual.

 

She rushed to her room. Luckily, the blinds were closed and the windows spared. She quickly put her costume on, and grabbed her jetpack. Corridors were empty; Tishya hoped there had been an evacuation. She went up to the roof and there, she could see what was going on.

 

Daisy Chrysanthe, sitting on top of a gigantic plant that moved around using its thorny vines as legs. Firefly rolled her eyes behind her mask, plants? Really? They sent her plants? Do these villains know plants are flammable? Before she could complain about it, the villain spoke.

 

"There you are, Firefly! I had been expecting you... although not quite so soon!" Daisy smirked, looming over the hero. "It's almost as if you lived in the area!" She laughed as her vines caused more destruction around herself.

 

Tishya charged her, activating her jetpack and aiming for a punch. She was met with a wall of plants instead. Nothing some good old fashioned fire couldn't overcome.

 

Flaming pieces of vegetation fell around them as Firefly kept going upwards. She dodged a few of Daisy's attacks. The plant walls slowed her down, and the vines deviated her from her course. She couldn't get a direct hit that way, she had to try something else somehow.

 

Suddenly, the hero moved out of her initial trajectory. No need to aim for the other woman, when she could make her fall from her throne. She fired a fireball right into the plant's "legs". The whole thing lost some of its balance, and Daisy had to hold to some leaves not to fall down.

 

Now enraged, the villain threw everything at the disgusting little bug that was her ennemy. She produced a bunch of thinner vines covered in thorns, that she used as a whip against the one in red. The whips were fast. Tishya was hit in the leg, thorns biting in her skin. The pain was tough, but she couldn't let it slow her down. She turned the whip to ashes, then aimed for another vine.

 

This time, Daisy did fall. She was barely holding to some petals. Firefly raised her fire's intensity and tackled the plant woman. Both fell on the roof, and the huge plant was now burning into nothing. Ashes flew through the air. Firefly was holding the villain down.

 

"This is it. No plants for you anymore: there are none and no dirt on this roof either! You'd better surrender now!"

 

"How naive of you to believe that!" Daisy smirked.

 

It was too late, Tishya barely had time to notice the pouches around Daisy's waist, before a bunch of bamboo spikes sprouted from one of them. Firefly jumped back to avoid being empaled, but that allowed Daisy to flee to the stairs. Shit.

 

"Matt? Anyone?" Daisy screamed into her phone-watch. "I need help, and a fire extinguisher!" Firefly was hot on her trail, she was not going to let her go that easily. The pain was hard to deal with, but she could still dodge the plants daisy threw in her way.

 

They ran like this out of the building. Into the street. Into another street. Another street again, and another building. Surely Daisy would be cornered there, right?

 

Wrong.

 

Maybe it was the pain, maybe it was the heat of the moment, but it took until Firefly was in the middle of the room that she noticed where exactly she was. Daisy, in front of her, smirked menacingly. The bug had been caught in her net.

 

This was a flower shop.

 

Vines, thorns and branches came for Tishya from all sides. She could easily have burnt everything, but she was not in the open like before... using her powers could result in the whole building being set on fire if she was not careful. And she couldn't exactly be that careful. Thorns ripped through her suit, distracting her long enough for a huge carnivorous plant to try and swallow her. Daisy was no longer in sight, no one was in sight.

 

The carnivorous plant began glowing, using her powers inside of it hopefully would prevent it from spreading too much. Firefly was eventually able to release herself, and proceeded to burn through the vines holding her. Daisy's absence meant she no longer had control over the plants, which went back to being idle, albeit much bigger than usual. The water sprinklers eventually activated, pouring rain over the wounded and lonely hero. All adrenaline had been washed out from her, and she found herself awfully aware of her wounds and bruises. She got out, trying her best not to trip on the remains of the fight, and in the dryer air, she used her powers to cauterize her biggest injuries. She would have to find some more casual clothes somewhere, change into a secure place, then take the bus back home. She was not walking all the way back with bloody legs.

 

* * *

 

 

Anastasia had had a busy day at work. The last few days had really been awful for her, due to some drama between her colleagues. If there was one thing she hated, it was to have to mediate between people. She really gave no care in everyone's personnal issues when she had some other stuff to deal with. The saddest thing about all this is that she knew none of her "friends" would be there for her if she was the one in trouble. Who could she even trust? Maybe Tishya? Even though they lived together, they weren't really that close. Anastasia frowned: that was a real shame! She could probably listen to her issues if the both of them became friends.

 

Gosh, now she was really eager to reach their shared appartment!

 

Their shared appartment, in a building whose roof seemed to be on fire...

 

Okay, what was this? Was there a fight? Anastasia could see giant flaming leaves hitting the ground, all too reminiscent of Daisy Chrysanthe's techniques. It was probably dangerous to go closer...

 

And yet the appeal! If there was a fight, she had to see it!

 

Anastasia was so entranced with the firing plants, that she had not noticed the man that appeared out of a wall. She was knocked to the ground.


	9. Mission: Failed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry! I know it has been a long time but I was in the middle of exams, and I also wanted to attempt writing in french on some other site ^_^
> 
> The chapter was supposed to be longer but I thought it better to separate PoV's.

Matt went back to his office with a broken nose. Who could have predicted this whole operation would have gone so terrible? Everything might have seemed to go according to plan, but it didn't one bit.

 

Of course, Daisy had been able to conduct an attack at the desired building, and firefly showed up in an instant, however, and this would surely have helped Matt draw conclusions in usual circumstances.

 

But the circumstances were far from usual. He had failed. He had not planned for his target to be so strong, and to be punched at the exact moment he was catching his breath, the only time he was vulnerable. It was as if she had known his only weakness. And there were there orders he got...

 

Matt suspected this whole Firefly thing covered something much more complicated, but what? First, it would be natural to assume that Firefly had an accomplice among them, but then why would she have never attacked them? If she had an infiltrated agent, she would know where to look for Frost and put an end to his deeds once and for all... or, second hypothesis, someone was trying to distract Frost by exacerbating his will to catch the fiery bug. That would be a major issue and would require a report immediately.

 

As Matt attempted to retrive data about the suspects, however, he noticed all data covering his main targets had been deleted, along with a few others that seemed to have been erased at random, as if it was not obvious what the culprit was trying to do here. Matt had expected something like that, and as a result, had saved all the data he needed on his personal memory stick. He printed the info he needed, and headed into the boss' office.

 

"Whoah, what are you doing you punk!" Yelled Powerhouse who was already there.

Matt woumd have prefered to be alone with Frost, but he doubted the Colonel was responsible. They were on bad terms but the man did not seem like someone who would betray his chief.

 

"Dr. Frost, I would like to submit to you this dossier containing my results as well as some observations that you might find dreadful." Matt said as he handed Frost the documents.

 

"As you may know, I conducted an attack in a specific area in town in order to locate Firefly in a more prrcise manner" Matt continued, "Unfortunately, even though Firefly did show up rather quickly, confirming my expectations, this is not exactly what this is about. You see, all the profiles you are currently holding had been deleted from my computer by someone who is either Firefly's accomplice, or planning your downfall."

 

Dr. Frost remained silent as he looked up from the files to stare at Matt. That made him a bit uneasy. Colonel Powerhouse was cursing about not wanting to be subjected to Matt's immense amount of words, and left the room.

 

"With your authorisation, I would like to check this building's security cameras. I hope that it could give me the information I need to know who is responsible for the data loss. I do have one suspect in mind but I need confirmation."

 

"Who is that suspect?" Frost asked, emotionless.

 

"The Puppet Master has already intruded my office once, I do not doubt the guy could do it again and mess with my computer. Have we got any idea what he is up to lately?"

 

Frost shook his head.

 

"Thank you for bringing this to my attention." The man in a lab coat said, as he got up. "I will set a team to track the Puppet Master's moves, and I grant you permission to check our surveillance cameras. Alert me of any development."

 

Matt thanked his boss and left, in direction of the surveillance office. Although he knew he wouldn't find much already, seeing as he had checked before coming if the camera in front of his office worked, and although he was not the camera expert, it seemed not to be working.

 

When he got to the security department, he only found out that this was not just his office, but almost the whole floor. Wouldn't have Frost been aware of this already? It did not matter whether or not Frost was warned at this point, Matt was sure something fishy was going on.


	10. She's Back

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hey! Sorry I was gone for so long: I had a lot going on, between exams, moving to a new town and studying...  
> But then I remembered I had this story... although I picked back writing in my native language, I had not bothered to go back to my english works so... there it is! I'm back, and so is Anastasia!
> 
> I hope you'll enjoy this chapter and that you'll forgive me for it taking so long to update!

After her fight against Daisy Chrysanthe, Tishya was not in the best of shapes. She came back home to a bunch of firemen trying to put out the fire she had caused on the rooftop. She dared not look up, feeling guilty about the damage she caused. The worst part is that she couldn't apologize and fix it unless she wanted her secret identity unveiled to the whole town. There were a lot of civilians and news reporters gathered in front of the building, and Tishya had to wait until the fire was put out until she could go back to her bed.

She sneaked past the crowd, and she was for once thankful for her short height which made her less noticeable. She had been able to retrieve a hoodie from one of her secret stashes scattered around town, and only the bottom part of her costume was exposed. Her pants were standard enough that no one would really connect the dots. 

 

Finally, her flat. Anastasia was not back yet, but Tishya did not care at the moment, she needed a shower and to treat her wounds. She headed straight to the bathroom and took off her dirty clothes. The process was rather painful, as some of it stuck to her dried blood, and it was worse in the spots that she cauterized with her powers. Luckily, she had a slight healing factor, especially when it came to bad burns. >Still, it didn't stop it from hurting.

The cool water poured down on her like shards of glass. Still, it was what she needed to shake away the numbness.

 

She stepped out of the shower and wrapped herself in a towel, when she started hearing noise outside the room. She frowned, all her senses sending her alerts that something was there, on the other side of the door. She remembered what Daisy Crysanthe had said about her showing her quickly, as expected...

 

"It's as if you lived in the area."

 

A powerful shiver ran down her spine. She was in no spot to fight right now, but could it be the attack was just a plot to figure out her location? How could she have been so dumb! She should not have rushed to action... but that is her major flaw, as a fire hero, she's quite hot-blooded.

 

A knock on the bathroom door almost sent Tishya into a panick attack.

 

"Tishya? Are you done in there? I need to use the toilet real bad!"

 

That was Anastasia.

 

Of course.

 

Tishya was so caught up in the dread of another attack that she had forgotten she did not live alone after all. She had a roommate along with her in that flat. She sighed, letting out as much tension as she could from her lungs.

 

"Yeah, I'll be out in a minute..."

 

Tishya wrapped her hair up in a towel, gathered her dirty costume and opened the door cautiously, because she was not quite yet fully reassured. Anastasia was just outside, smiling, and she rushed to the room Tishya left just as Tishya rushed to her own bedroom.

 

Now, clean clothes, Tishya thought. She decided to wear shapeless sweatpants and a similarily shapeless sweater to hide as many of the wounds as possible. She looked at herself in the mirror and was rather satisfied with the result. Maybe Anastasia would notice something is wrong from her odd way of walking and her tired expression, but she could always say she fell while trying to escape the roof fire or something.

 

Whatever.

 

Tishya just laid down on her bed, face straight into her pillow, and let out a muffled whine in frustration. Today had been awful and she was starving but had not strength left to cook, or do anything for that matter. She was probably just going to pass out…

 

  
But her roommate would not let her do that, would she?

 

  
Anastasia was knocking again, and Tishya reluctantly turned her face in her direction. To be fair, had she kept facing her pillow, she might have ran out of her, so this was not all that bad. Her neck was stiff though.

 

  
“Say, do you know what started the fire anyway?” asked Anastasia.

 

  
“It’s probably in the news at this point, just turn on the TV…”

 

  
Tishya did not want to answer any questions at the moment, and Anastasia seemed to get the message, even though her worried expression was proof she had many things to ask her friend. She would do it later for sure.

  
“I’ll do that… you seem tired, maybe I should make dinner?” asked the blonde.

 

  
Tishya groaned but gave Anastasia a thumbs up, adding a “Please” once she realized that might have been a tad bit rude.

 

  
Once Anastasia left the room, Tishya stretched painfully. Gosh, she really hoped the feeling would be gone soon, because she did not want to deal with a full week of that. She put on her slippers and headed to the living room where Anastasia was doing something between cooking and watching TV.

 

  
Since standing there like an idiot was no good and hurt more than necessary, Tishya let herself fall down on the couch, and focused on the news.

 

  
“…a fight opposing Daisy Chrysanthe and Firefly…”

 

  
She wanted to switch channels, but Anastasia had the remote controller.

 

  
“Back to our other topic, for two weeks now, people have been reported missing all over town. The authorities have only recently considered that there might be a link between these disappearances, and consider this might be a supervillain’s doing. Our guest to discuss this matter is a renowned supercriminality expert…”

 

  
This had the merit of keeping Tishya awake. That was a serious matter that she probably would have to deal with in the future.

 

  
“Oh, yeah that… I should tell you!” Anastasia exclaimed. “Some dude came out from a wall and tackled me to the ground, but I punched him in the face and gave him a good beat up! You should be careful outside!”

 

  
Tishya glanced at her athletic roommate, damn… seems like she must have had a tense day as well… Being attacked in the street was not exactly ideal, even if one’s able to fend off their aggressor. 

 

  
Anastasia came back with two sandwiches and sat down next to Tishya, handing her one in the same move. The brunette thanked her before biting into the bread. Finally she could get food in her system.

 

  
She was glad to have Anastasia by her side.


End file.
